I think the major concern here shouldn't be who raised the water rates, who told them to, or how long we got lower rates. The issue should be the management of the utilities. Rockwood employs almost twice as many employees for the water and sewer departments as neighboring cities per customer. The customer to employee ratio is critical in that a well organized utility can keep costs down and thus not require as much money to operate. Has it ever occoured to you that payroll and benefits for these departments far exceeds the necessity. Ther are people reaping salary and benefits that simply aren't required. These surely are difficult financial times, and I would hate to see these people lose their jobs, as many of them are friends and neighbors. If these departments were private businesses they would long since have perished. Lets not get excited about our water rates and become concerned that our city officials look into the management of these departments and cut costs in a professional business-like manner so that our rates don't have to be raised.

The FIRST responsibility of the Water Board is to provide potable water to the citizens. My water smells bad and tastes bad. I understand the reasons for the rate increase, but I should at least be able to expect drinkable water for my money.

While I do not fully understand what has happened here, maybe I did not catch the article, or it was not clear... I don't know.

It sounds like a "regulatory body" has ruled that the rate is too low, and they are requiring it to be raised. Do I understand that part?

For everyone who is attacking on this issue, is the required rate higher than it would have been, had it been raised periodically through the years? If not, if it is only being raised to the appropriate rate, then rather than crucify the people in charge, maybe we should thank them.

They somehow kept the rate lower than it should have been for a few years. Let's see now, they kept the rate lower than it should have been, now it is being raised. If it is not being raised higher than it should be, then they saved us money for a few years, by keeping the rates low. Now we've been caught, and will be paying what the "regulatory body" considers to be the correct rate.

Incompetence comes to the front in my thoughts.
Where are the qualified individuals within the organization? How can a manager, as well as an oversight board, be so unaware of the regulatory requirements?
In the end, it's the consumer who pays for the incompetence, not the management. No different than TVA I guess...

Actually, for clarification, the sewer rate is in effect. The proposal is for the water rate. The water rate base rate increase is no more than $1.25 - 15%. Over the past decade when milk has gone up 100%, I don't think it's that big a deal. Lord knows I use a whole lot more water than milk. Although with the number of kids in my house gallon usage of milk versus water may be close.